


like the king of the eyesores

by GlitterDwarf



Series: new slang [1]
Category: Silicon Valley (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-08
Updated: 2015-04-08
Packaged: 2018-03-21 21:22:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3705167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GlitterDwarf/pseuds/GlitterDwarf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jared is invited to stay at the Hendricks house for the Fourth of July weekend. Featuring: spiked sweet tea; flushed skin from heat; flushed skin from a sunburn; flushed skin from things that are much harder to quantify; cheesy hand-holding; situations that are far too much like high school; and the Hendricks family playing matchmaker in order to adopt Jared as one of their own.</p>
            </blockquote>





	like the king of the eyesores

**Author's Note:**

> This is a ship that gripped me tight and hasn't let me go. I'm doomed forever to love minuscule fandoms. Time to post something before Season 2 starts, and before I think better of it.
> 
> Unbeta'd because it's almost 3AM and I'm lazy? Also, be sure to read the bios on piedpiper.com to find out the backstory I reference.

The signature California sun was burning bright through the windows, glaring straight into Richard's eyes. The normal windy, gray setting of San Francisco had succumbed to a California summer, and with it that heavy, dry air. Inside the airport, though, the air conditioning was running almost too forcefully, though it was still not enough to be comfortable. There were some brave souls trying their best to be comfortable despite this: a child sprawled across both parents, who were fanning him with their iPads; a scrawny man was furiously sucking from his CamelBack, a strange carry-on decision; and one brave soul was slumped in their seat, dozing while wearing a prototype for that full-cover pillow he remembered seeing on Kickstarter a few years ago.

"Jared?" He turned to his companion, who was currently sitting up very straight and reading from Feedly on his Surface. He turned immediately, attention and energy completely shifted as he often does. Richard pursed his lips and pointed at the pillow monster.

"Did that ever get funded?"

Jared followed Richard's finger then twitched in his seat, clearly at least slightly disturbed by the sight.

"Oh, uh, they did. It is the OstrichPillow. It has since diversified into several related products." The pillow monster appeared to stir; the lump shifted and a loud sore erupted from one of the weird openings. They both looked away quickly.

"It’s mean, but there, uh, are some products that probably shouldn’t have made it past the bad idea stage," Richard said under his breath.

"Yes," Jared said with a frown. He looked over with a half-aborted turn toward Richard. "You will never have to worry about that, Richard, not with your mind."

"Oh," Richard gasped and fiddled with the buttons on his phone. He mumbled something about how Pied Piper would be nowhere without his team, patted Jared on the leg awkwardly, and clammed up. The two were silent for a few minutes until Jared decided to ask the same question for the quadrillionth time.

"Are you sure I may accompany you? You can still change your mind, we have about thirty-seven minutes before boarding starts." Richard sighed at this.

"My answer hasn't changed in the past month, though it may if you ask again." He checks for Jared's reaction. His co-worker looks quite frightened until Richard smiles.

"Oh! A joke. Yes. Well, thank you again for letting me come."

“Jared,” Richard said with as much authority as he could muster. “You don’t have to thank me. I’m happy you’re coming.”

A soft noise came from Jared. “ _Oh._ Well. I’m happy, too, Richard.”

And if they both had to stay engrossed in their own tablets until boarding so that the other couldn’t see their blushing faces? Well, there was nobody to tell except the Pillow Monster.

 

•••

 

The truth is that, even if Richard didn’t want him to come (which he does, truly, more than he should really, or else he wouldn’t have put up with the jokes from the guys) there was no way that he could show up to his parents’ house without Jared and not be given the cold shoulder by his mother. Her Southern, motherly instincts had come out full force the minute she found out that his co-worker would have been alone during the Fourth of July.

“What do you mean he has nowhere to go?” she had screeched through the phone enough for him to have to pull it away from his ear.  “Where is his family?”

“I don’t know, Mom, I didn’t ask questions.” That did give him pause, though. Where _was_ his family?

“Why isn’t there anybody inviting this poor boy to parties?”

Richard choked back a laugh at this question. The flippant answer would be to admit that Jared is awkward at best, but this leads to even worse, harder questions to answer that Richard was frankly unwilling to think about too much. It reminded him of the three separate birthday parties in which nobody had shown up, one as recent as two years ago, and it made him stomach sink and roll and threaten to upend itself.

“I don’t know, Mom, why he isn’t invited anywhere.”

“Well what did he _say_ to you, Richie?”

Richard sighed and was about to explain—that all Jared said was that he would probably spend it at his house catching up on biographies of Presidents, but that none of the guys should worry—but Jared himself walked into the kitchen.

“Do you have time to circle back to these reports?” he asked.

“Who is that?” Richard’s mom asked in his ear. “Is that him? Put him on the phone.”

“Mom—”

“Put him _on the goddamn phone,_ Richie, or I’ll—”

And there went his stomach, rolling and turning.

“Uh, Jared, my mom wants to speak to you.”

Jared blinked a few times before shuffling forward and taking the phone. Richard watched in shock for the next minutes, barely breathing because it was _fucking surreal_ to watch. Jared, who had not needed to use his business persona for months, slipped into it with ease. He spoke politely, calmly, and even made a joke that landed successfully if his mother’s loud laughter was to be believed. After about half a minute Dinesh and Gilfoyle walked in and were quickly also enraptured. By the end of the phone call the entire household was gathered, watching silently, as Jared leaned against the counter and fucking _schmoozed_ Richard's mother. The transformation was over when he hung up the phone, looked shocked and immediately apologized.

“Oh! Oh, I’m sorry! I should have kept her on the line. Would you like me to dial her for you, Richard?”

“What the _fuck_ was that?” Erlich practically shouted, frightening Jared to hitting his back against the counter. “Are you a spy? Are you Jason Bourne? I told you all that he couldn’t be trusted.”

“Well fuck me in the beard, that was fucking strange to watch,” Gilfoyle murmured with raised eyebrows.

“I just,” Jared stumbled with wide eyes. “I just thought I should use my business persona, it’s strategic.”

To Richard’s left Dinesh made a coughing noise and made some kind of hand motion in Gilfoyle’s direction. “And why would you need to speak ‘strategically’ to Richard’s mom?”

Jared sighs and looks Richard in the eye, finally.

“Because she invited me to spend the Fourth of July with your family?”

Somewhere to the left, another hand signal and more choked laughter. Richard heard none of it, of course, because his stomach was rolling again. Jared, of course, noticed immediately and rushed to help him to the toilet. After Richard was done nervously vomiting he leaned into Jared’s hand that was rubbing soothing circles into his back. This was, of course, not what he should be doing, because it only added to the underlying reason for his upset stomach.

In less than a week he would be spending day and night with Jared Dunn, who might be showing more skin in the heat, who might be using that _sexy persona_ , who was so endlessly kind and caring and humble and _fuck, fuckity fuck, Richard was so fucked._

 

•••

 

“And this is where you’ll be staying, honey,” Mrs. Hendricks twittered. Not for the first time on this tour Richard caught her touching his companion’s back as she moved him around.

“ _Mom_ ,” he hissed at her. She laughed and shrugged.

“Southern hospitality,” she said in her sing-song voice as she continued to lead Jared forward into Richard’s childhood room with her touch. For his part Jared seemed to be holding it together, though Richard did see fear in his eyes when their gazes met. “I’m sorry that we can’t put you up anywhere with more room, but our house will be filled pretty tight this weekend.”

“Oh it’s no problem, Mrs. Hendricks,” Jared assured with a smile. “I’ve slept in many, well, uncomfortable spaces.”

“Oh no! You will be taking Richard’s bed. I’ll get one of the air mattresses for him. And before you say ‘no,’ let me remind you: Southern Hospitality!”

Richard barely heard any of this, of course, as he was a little distracted by his mom’s touching. She had _always_ done this, with anybody he brought home that she could tell he had a crush on; he was still annoyed with her putting sunblock on Savannah and “teaching” Paulie how to dance in their living room.

“I can take it from here, Mom,” he grumbled. “It’s my room anyway.”

“ _Jared honey_ , don’t be afraid to let me know if you need anything.” She said this while dragging her hand lower on Jared’s back before breaking away and walking from the room. “Take your time settling in!”

It was nearly immediately after she left that Jared collapsed to sitting on Richard’s bed. The squeaking might have elicited too many bad thoughts that Richard had to shove away.

“I’m so sorry,” he groaned. “She’s a little, well. She’ll never leave you alone.”

Jared’s smile was a little uneven, but he still laughed. “Perhaps I was too ambitious in my decision to be sociable with her. I’m afraid the façade will break too soon.”

Richard shrugged and sat next to Jared on his bed. It was rather small, though so was Richard. He wondered if Jared’s feet would dangle over the end when he slept there. “Don’t worry. My family would like you if you’re yourself and not corporate.”

Jared made a small noise of disagreement. “Statistically I have found that to be improbable at best.”

Richard shrugged. “They like _me_.”

“Yes, but a person would be illogical to not like you.”

Richard laughed shakily and ran his hands down his thighs. Jared coughed and continued to speak after a long moment of silence. “I hope your mom didn’t notice that my back is sweaty. Is it always so humid?”

“Oh, I forgot to warn you!” He looked at Jared and winced. It was no wonder that he was sweaty; he was wearing his normal fashion of two layers on top and full-length pants. “Did you bring anything that is short-sleeved?”

“Um, I might have a polo shirt? It is red and white and so I thought it might be patriotic enough.”

“Okay, well, we can also see if you can fit into my clothes. It basically worked that other time. If you like you can take a shower? I’ll set out some clothes for you to wear when you get back.”

Jared nodded and smiled. “Yes, that would be very nice of you, if it isn't too much trouble.”

It was a weird thing to do, Richard found, picking out clothes for Jared Dunn from his clothes from college. He eventually chose a University of Oklahoma tee that he thought might be long enough to fit Jared’s frame and paired this with cargo shorts. Before leaving his room he had a strong urge to look it over and hide anything potentially embarrassing, but he quickly ran out of time. The sound of the shower shutting off was like a warning alarm; he quickly slipped out of the room, down the stairs and into the kitchen.

His family’s home was actually quite nice. His parents had done well for themselves, well enough to buy a large home in a nice neighborhood when Richard was a young kid and his mother became pregnant again. His mother was a neurosurgeon, and one who struggled to remain on the top of her department despite being marginalized for her gender, especially every time she had to take maternity leave. Her persistence paid off by his parents’ twentieth wedding anniversary where she paid for the kitchen renovation to give his father restaurant-quality equipment (fitting, given that his father owned a successful restaurant). Reflecting on it, he was very lucky to have grown up with the family that he did; he and all five of his siblings were gifted in various fields, were able to take extra classes to hone their skills, and Richard was never lacking for computer software and other resources.

When he reached said beautiful kitchen he was met with the only other sibling that had arrived so far. His oldest sister, Roberta “Bobbie” Hendricks, threw herself into his arms for a squeeze that forced all of his breath out of his body.

“Richie!” she hollered, straight into his ear of course. “Kids, Uncle Richie is here!”

Within seconds he was flanked on both sides by his twin nephews who each wrapped themselves around one of his legs. The last time he had seen them they were barely crawling; now they were giggling, curly-haired five year olds with too much energy.

“How is the music program going, Bobbie?”

“Same shit,” she sighed and took a sip of sweet tea that he heavily suspected was spiked. “A great mix of high school students who actually care to sing, and the other half who just want to get out of P.E.” She then looked over Richard’s shoulder and grinned. “And who is this cutie?”

Richard shuffled, still attached to his nephews, to turn around. He struggled to keep his stomach in check, normally queasy but now fluttering. He was wholly unprepared for the territorial satisfaction at seeing another person wear his clothes, and truly unprepared for the way seeing a _lot_ more of Jared’s skin would affect him. Besides the quick flash when they were trading pants in Peter Gregory’s bathroom he had never seen more than an inch of ankle when Jared sat down and his pants rode up slightly. Now there were mostly-bare arms and mostly-bare legs, as the shorts only reached down to an inch above his knees. He choked, suddenly desperate for spiked tea.

Jared moved forward to greet Bobbie, hand outstretched for a handshake.

“Jared, this is my sister Bobbie. Bobbie, this is Jared, my Head of Business Development.”

Bobbie snorted. “And that’s all?”

Richard frowned at her. “And a _friend_ , yes.”

She looked at Richard and raised her eyebrows. “A friend who wears your clothes.” He shrugged in response.

“He didn’t know it would be so humid.”

She made a noise of understanding. “We might have to take you shopping, then. Well Jared, it’s great to meet you. Currently playing koalas around Richie’s legs are my kids, Aidan and Cody.” Jared smiled down at them and reached a hand down to high five them, one at a time. “My other sisters and brother will be here either tonight or tomorrow.”

“Oh?” Jared began, standing up again. “How many of you are there?”

“Six in total. I’m the oldest, then there’s Jackson, then Richard, then Shelby, then Harper, then Grace.”

“Oh!” Jared gasped. “No wonder your house is so spacious.”

Bobbie laughed and poured Jared a glass of tea. At this point, noticing that the grown-ups were going to have a boring conversation, the kids had scattered to the backyard. “Well trust me, it won’t seem so big when it’s full up. We’re a large brood.” She handed Jared the glass. “Well if you aren’t here as Richie’s boyfriend, then why are you here? Where’s your family?”

Jared choked, though Richard wasn’t sure if it was for the boyfriend comment, the personal question, or the surprise of finding the tea to be mixed with alcohol. “I don’t actually have a family.”

Bobbie raised her eyebrows. At that moment their mother came in.

“What does that mean? You don’t have a family, sweetie?”

Jared shrugged and looked at Richard, probably because this was a safe person to look at.

“I’m an only child, and I grew up in foster care since I was seven. I’ve lived in eleven different homes.” He shrugged. “None of them kept in touch or tried to be a long-term relationship. I had lunch with my uncle once when I was 19 but it wasn't particularly pleasant."

Bobbie looked sympathetic, Mrs. Hendricks had tears in her eyes, and Richard just stood in shock. It figured that an hour in their home and the girls would have already pulled more personal information out of Jared than he had found out in the last year. Jared was soon swept up in a group hug from the girls.

“It’s okay!” he squeaked, making somewhat frightened eye contact with Richard from over Bobbie’s shoulder. “I’ve made peace with it.”

When the girls finally took a step back, holding hands with one another, they looked Jared up and down.

“Well now I _need_ to take him shopping. Somebody has to take care of him.”

“Good idea, baby girl. Let me get my wallet. Come with he, sweetie,” his mom cooed and dragged Jared out of the room.

Bobbie took the opportunity to tease Richard, _naturally_.

“Just a friend, huh?”

“ _What_ ,” Richard groaned, scrubbing at his face with both hands.

“I saw how you looked at him. This is just like your little high school crushes.” She grinned, her most evil of looks. “Richie has a crush!”

“Can you be quiet? He doesn’t know!”

At that moment Jared was led back into the kitchen, a fist-full of hundred dollar bills in his hand and an uncomfortable look on his face.

“Alright, boys! Go ahead and let Bobbie take care of you. There’s no reason you can’t be rich nerds and not be _fashionable_ at the same time.”

Less than an hour and Jared had been adopted into the Hendricks household.

Richard was _fucked_.

 

•••

 

By the time they retired to Richard’s room that night they already each had what basically amounted to a whole new wardrobe and extra travel baggage to transport it back to Palo Alto. Besides the warm-weather clothes Bobbie forced them to buy suits (“Don’t you have rich people to impress?”) and swim trunks (“Don’t tell me you won’t be using the pool! You need some sun on that pale skin.”). They were also outfitted in new watches and shoes. Jared looked uncomfortable with the amount of money that was being spent on something that was essentially superfluous, and said so, but Bobbie shut him up  by saying that he was just getting twenty years of family love.

“I don’t want you to think I’m ungrateful,” Jared said that night. They were laying down, Jared in Richard’s old bed (after a lot of convincing) and Richard on a blow-up mattress. “It’s hard for me to express in words how, well, happy I am.”

“That’s really good, Jared,” Richard said with a yawn. He checked the foot of the bed; Jared’s feet did in fact dangle a little over the edge, something that Richard found instantly endearing. “I want you to be happy.”

A calm silence fell between them after this. Richard was drifting to sleep when he heard a quiet whisper in the darkness.

“I want you to be happy, too.”

He fell asleep for the first time in months with warmth in his stomach instead of knots and stress.

 

•••

 

Chaos was the only way to describe the house by mid-morning the next day. His brother had arrived with his wife and his youngest sister came with her boyfriend, bringing with them a lot of loud energy. Just as Richard promised they were all very kind to Jared, who was just as endearing to them as he was to Richard.

“He’s like a little puppy that you just want to take care of,” Grace cooed to Richard while they watched Jared try to teach the twins how to play with a Rubik’s cube. “I can see why you like him.”

Richard frowned and lightly punched his sister in the arm.

“Why does everyone keep saying that?”

Grace fixed him with a _look_ and rolled her eyes. “Maybe because we _know_ you, Richard.”

“He’s not your usual type, though,” Jackson commented. “I thought you liked beefier dudes, when you’re going for a man.”

“Yeah but those guys never like Richard back,” Bobbie sighed. Richard prayed for the Hadron collider to malfunction and send a black hole to swallow him up. Maybe somewhere else in the multiverse there was a universe where his siblings weren’t such _assholes_.

“Thanks for the reminder,” he grumbled. Bobbie laughed and shook him good-naturedly.

“Yeah but this one will stick, I can tell.”

That ended up being the general consensus among all of his siblings by the late afternoon, when they were all there. While their dad was cooking dinner (“With so many this is going to take forever,” he had complained as though he didn’t love it) the brood decided to spend time in the backyard. It really was beautiful, and one of Richard’s favorite spots on Earth. A large pool took up a sizable amount of space, but there was also a sizeable porch with an extra dining table, a small gazebo, a hammock strung between two shady trees and a beautiful flower garden. Jared had looked at the entire thing with longing eyes.

“I’ve never stayed anywhere so nice that wasn’t a hotel,” he had whispered. “It’s beautiful.” Richard had grinned and slapped him on the back.

“Then go explore.”

And explore he did. Richard, his siblings and his mom looked on in familial support as he enjoyed each section of the backyard in turn, finally ending up playing a classic game of Marco Polo in the pool with Richard, his brother and the twins.

The family didn’t realize until it was too late that they should have made sure that Jared put on more sunblock before they let him loose. By the time they took supper on the porch Jared’s skin was showing signs of a burgeoning sunburn.

Mr. Hendricks winced sympathetically at the sight of bright pink blooming on Jared’s nose and cheeks, not to mention his chest and legs.

“I’ll leave the aloe vera in Richie’s room for you,” he said with a gentle pat to Jared’s shoulders.

This is how Richard found himself walking in on Jared, clothed only in pajama pants, trying and failing to put aloe vera gel on his back. By now, even after a cold shower, his body was growing redder.

“I’ve seen worse, if it helps,” Richard commented. “Can I help you with that?”

He internally winced; that was such gay porn dialogue. Jared nodded, handed the bottle to Richard, and scooted over on the bed to make room.

Heat radiated off of Jared’s poor skin as he rubbed the gel gently into his back. Jared sighed and made small, pleasured sounds at the relief, sounds that pooled into heat low in Richard’s stomach. Jared was still a little stiff, obviously not accustomed to being touched much, but as Richard got lost in his own thoughts he realized that Jared had relaxed so much over the last few days. He wasn’t always in his business persona; on the contrary, there were many moments where he was still awkward, his natural default. But he also wasn’t entirely like the Jared he had come to know. This Jared was calmer, more comfortable, and smiled a lot more. Richard tried to capture each and every smile in his memory, already dreading when they would return to Palo Alto and Jared would once again shrink under scrutiny, jabs, responsibility, and fear. Richard also feared for himself, for returning to the life where his stomach was never settled and where anxiety was always at the edges of his brain, waiting to take over.

Richard blamed his next action on a lot of things. He blamed it on being distracted by his thoughts. He blamed it on the fact that he was already touching Jared’s skin, and so normal physical boundaries were already compromised. But mostly he would blame it on the most logical factor: he had a full-blown, stupid crush on Jared Dunn.

Only half-cognizant of his actions, Richard leaned forward and kissed Jared at the conjuncture of his shoulder and neck.

It was a quick kiss, barely more than a peck. But it made both men stiffen up. Richard jumped to his feet and nearly tripped over the blow up mattress. When they looked at each other Richard was likely as red as Jared’s sunburned skin. They had matching eyes, large and round and frightened.

“I’m sorry!” Richard gasped.

“It’s okay,” Jared said slowly. They stared at each other for a few more seconds, long and uncomfortable.

“Okay, well, goodnight!” Richard squeaked. He turned off his bedside lamp and crawled into his blankets as quickly as he could, turned away from Jared. He listened, holding his breath, to the quiet shuffle of Jared shifting under his own blanket and getting comfortable. Richard squeezed his eyes shut and fell asleep to the running thread of _stupid, stupid, stupid_ in his head.

 

•••

 

“Richard?”

He awoke with a gasp, sitting up straight. In front of him was Jared, crouching on his knees by Richard’s air mattress, eyes bright even in the very early morning darkness.

“What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

Jared said nothing, only stared. Richard licked his lips nervously. At this motion Jared huffed out a breath, then leaned forward enough to trace Richard’s bottom lip with his thumb.

“Richard, with your permission I would really like to kiss you,” he whispered in the dark. Richard nodded then and, trying to avoid touching any sunburned skin, reached out to drag Jared in by tangling his fingers in short hair.

The first kiss was a little awkward, but given the men participating in the kiss Richard figured it made sense. They didn’t tilt their heads enough, and his nose that he hated so much bumped into Jared. But then, after a short laugh, they slotted together perfectly. Now their mouths met in firm kisses that were really just fucking glorious.

After a minute Richard pulled away just enough to see Jared’s face. Jared’s eyes fluttered open, and they looked at each other silently for a moment.

“Wait, is this a dream?” Richard asked. Jared pinched the back of Richard’s neck, causing Richard to wince.

“Evidence appears to go against that theory,” he whispered, short puffs of air ghosting across Richard’s lips. Richard groaned and closed his eyes.

“Do you know how long I’ve waited for somebody to talk nerdy and make out with me?”

“Well, I guess just long enough,” Jared mumbled.

And really, after that, Richard couldn’t be blamed for pulling Jared down on top of him. He _had_ waited just long enough, and he planned to enjoy a long, hot make out session finally.

The fact that it led to two orgasms each, once in his room and once in the shower? Well, that was necessary after Jared whispering “I’m going to make you feel so good” while pressing hot, wet kisses to his neck. There was really no way to avoid it after _that_.

 

•••

 

“Congratulations!” came a chorus of shouting from the breakfast table. Richard looked confused until his phone chimed. When he checked it he saw that a group text from his siblings contained a picture from that Lonely Island song of Andy Samberg and Jorma Taccone holding a cake that said “Congrats on the sex.”

“Jesus fuck, I hate all of you,” Richard groaned. The twins laughed and repeated it.

“Welcome to the family,” Mr. Hendricks said with a slap to Jared’s back that left him wincing. “Be careful; the girls might want to corner you into looking at the Pinterest board they started for Richard’s hypothetical wedding two years ago.”

 

•••

 

The rest of the vacation passed fairly quickly in a haze of buzzed afternoons, huge portions of barbecue (“both you and your boy need fattening up,” Mrs. Hendricks had said while slapping down more food on their plates), relaxing in the pool, and movies with the twins.  Mrs. Hendricks' favorite moment of the weekend was when Bobbie discovered Jared was a singer and forced him into singing the Flower Duet with her, followed by hugs, sobbing and embarrassment all around.

There were, of course, a few moments that stood out more than the others. Watching the fireworks with his family was always a happy event, but it was made much better this time because he was holding Jared’s hand, who was squeezing gently and even kissed Richard’s hand a few times. There was also their drunken stumbling into the gazebo on the last night after everyone had gone to bed. Richard admitted that this is where he had his first kiss, a girl named Beth when he was 17 that was nice enough to date him for four months (“the first longest relationship I’ve had, coincidentally"). Jared was quick to decide that they should make new, better memories of the gazebo, and he made good on this promise. Jared kissed a lot like how he worked at Pied Piper: thoroughly, meticulously, straightforward, and with a lot of praise. As much as Richard had come to enjoy the sight of Jared wearing clothes that fit him well, his best memories included those clothes coming off (and then folded, neatly, out of respect).

And then there was the morning they left, where each sibling threatened Jared in turn but then turned to Richard and threatened to hurt him if he “let this one get away.”  

He stayed calm and happy, even after waving goodbye to his family. This time in the terminal was much more pleasant, with the duo either holding hands while perusing blogs on their tablets or taking turns resting on the other’s shoulder. 

It wasn’t until the captain announced hours later that their descent was about to start that his stomach started cramping again. He suddenly felt dizzy, nauseous, and frustrated. He didn’t _want_ to feel this way. He didn’t _want_ to return to unbearable stress.

But this time, unlike every other time, there was Jared, quietly passing him a bag to vomit into and squeezing Richard’s hand, rubbing soothing circles with his thumb. His queasiness abated.

“You’re okay,” Jared whispered.

“We’re okay,” Richard agreed.


End file.
